Among those aged 16 to 24, the rate rose to a huge 53.27 per cent from 52.01 per cent the previous quarter, reflecting the ongoing impact of Spain's double-dip recession following the collapse of a construction boom in 2008.

The number of households in which all eligible members are unemployed rose by 9,300, reaching more than 1.73 million overall.

The country is in its second recession in four years, hit hard by the bursting of the property bubble that threw millions out of work and badly affected the country's banks.

Austerity cuts

On Monday the Bank of Spain will publish its provisional estimate of economic output in the second quarter, expected to show a contraction of 0.4 per cent, compared with a 0.3 per cent decrease in the first three months.

Under pressure from European authorities, Spain's conservative government has approved tens of billions of euros' worth of spending cuts, tax hikes and other measures.

The latest set of measures announced by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on July 11 aimed to save $80bn over three years.

Rajoy says the steps will help cut the public deficit in line with targets agreed with the European Union and strengthen the economy in the long term.

Critics say the measures will make the poor suffer unfairly from moves such as a public sector bonus cut and a rise in sales tax that together will hit consumption.

Hundreds of thousands of Spaniards have marched over recent weeks in protest at the measures.

The Spanish region hardest hit by rising unemployment was Catalonia in the northeast with a rate of 33.92 per cent, Friday's figures showed. The lowest rate was 14.56 per cent in the affluent Basque Country.

Spain's regions became a focus of financial concerns this week when Catalonia and others indicated they would need to borrow from a central government rescue fund in order to keep paying their debts.

The Spanish government's latest unemployment forecast is for a rate of 24.6 per cent at the end of 2012. This is a separate estimate from that of the statistics office, an autonomous state body.